RE: Employee experience dilemma....

["Higgins, Lisa" <LHiggins -at- carrieraccess -dot- com>]

Atticus Fisher:
> Lisa is young, probably no more than 23, with no technical writing 
> experience. 

I take exception to your choice of pseudonym, but I'm going to take the high
road and leave this at a terse "Hmmph."

Hmmph.

> 	Are we being jealous, petty, and difficult, or do you 
> guys believe we have legitimate concerns? Anyone else experience this type

> of thing?

You definitely have legitimate concerns. If the situation continues, you
will most likely have to rewrite these whole manuals, and, not
insignificantly, Fake Lisa will continue to be frustrated and overwhelmed.
It's just no good for anyone concerned. 

In your shoes, I'd go to management, explain that FL seems to be bright and
talented and has a great deal of potential, but she can't be expected to
take on a task such as this without some experience. You might suggest that
she start out by helping you and the other writer with your projects, to let
her assimilate and get a feel for the process.

This sort of situation seems to arise from general ignorance of the concept
of technical writing. It makes perfect sense, to someone who doesn't
understand the process of writing a manual, to give this sort of assignment
to someone with little or no experience. You may want to present your
management with a brief overview of the process of analyzing an audience and
a task, designing an information structure, presenting it clearly, and blah
blah blah. 

Reiterate that you and the other writer are experienced and can be expected
to take these things on, but developing documentation is a complex process
that requires some experience to do effectively. Whatever you do, don't
blame her. She's been put in a pretty crummy position.

Besides, it can be really nice to have a junior writer around. The tasks
that might seem tedious or menial can be educational and challenging to a
newbie.

The Real Lisa (not 23)